And welcome to what I am going to start to refer to as my bi-weekly blog.
Yes, that’s right, I a have decided to take a little pity on you and limit these banal little episodes of my life to a fortnightly affair. The reason for this is less to do with MS related fatigue issues (although they are a little bit of a factor), and more to do with the fact that life, the odd little hiccup aside, has settled down to the point that I sometimes struggle for subject matter.
I know, shocking isn’t it?
Luckily for you, this week, well this week has been far from settled.
A Mess Of Stress
The week began as it meant to go on, and that was with a less than healthy dollop of stress.
Actually I’ll correct myself ever so slightly there, because there was very little stress involved in my morning toast and coffee or even the morning perambulation with the dog, poo picking-up aside. No it was a pretty stress free morning with thoughts of lunch, a spot of writing, and maybe a bit of telly, pretty much all that was in my customarily unoccupied mind. It wasn’t until I went to pick up my wife, Tina that everything changed.
Now, those of you who have had the dubious pleasure of following this blog for a while may just remember that a couple of years ago, my lovely wife suffered from a Neurological Stroke. This was an episode that presented almost exactly as you might expect a Stroke to do but is absent the blood clot or brain bleed that is the ‘normal’ cause of these symptoms.
The Horns Of The Dilemma
Instead, a Neurological, or Functional, Stroke is caused by problems with the way the nervous system is working. It’s more a ‘software’ problem than a ‘hardware’ one and is often caused by anxiety, stress, depression, and extreme fatigue. None of which causes are exactly strangers to my darling wife. That particular episode led to loss of movement and function in her left arm and her left leg, which in turn led to months of rehabilitation, a husband in a state, a change in jobs and, fortunately, an almost complete eventual recovery.
You can probably imagine my emotions therefore, when upon arriving at the Salvation Army hall to pick her up she was complaining of weakness in her left hand.
Tina is a pianist and in the course of her morning tinkling she had been finding it more and more difficult. She also plays the trumpet (well cornet, French horn, tenor horn… something like that. Basically a trumpet though), and had been struggling with that too, to the point of almost dropping the instrument.
Better Than Cure
Well. Experience is one hell of a teacher so, knowing what had gone before, I was not messing around. I whisked her away to the local Accident and Emergency department where it turned out her left leg was also starting to show familiar signs. Nevertheless, she was assessed, given a few tests, including a CAT Scan and with all the really, really scary stuff ruled out, sent home (after a more than healthy dose of Aspirin), with an appointment to see a specialist at a dedicated clinic the next day. This too give her a conditional ‘all clear’ and once again sent her home.
From my point of view this is slightly frustrating. I mean it’s good to know that the doctors aren’t concerned that anything life threatening is occurring, but to leave not one, but two, hospitals with no medication, no therapy, and no referral is a little disconcerting and does nothing to help with preventing the potential for another attack. I guess it’s up to us. I guess we need to find ways of helping to manage stress, and to reduce the impact of Tina’s depression and anxiety on her life, and we need to do this ourselves. These twin terrors have always been with her, ever since I’ve known her, but when they start to produce physical effects not once, but twice in a couple of years then it becomes even more of a priority.
All Talk
So, the plan is this. First of all we’re going to manage the physical symptoms as they are presenting now. Luckily it seems we have caught these a little quicker, and the damage seems less than two years ago, and is bouncing back much more quickly (Piano and trumpet at church today… Check). Once that is done we then need to look in to possible therapeutic ways of handling the twins. Medicinal therapy may have it’s place but it’s unlikely to be a long term solution. Talking therapies such as CBT and even Hypnotherapy have been mentioned to us though, and I believe both of these are available on the NHS.
It’s going to take time. Much like the herb garden we’ve started planting in the back garden it will take patience, nurturing, and support. Like the herbs though, with the right tools, a little sun, and a little love, I’m sure the green shoots of a true recovery can start to appear and before too long, to flourish.
Until next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment